Chapter 10: All-Night Grinding, Ascend Tomorrow!

Before they finished laughing, they saw Old Li glaring at them and barked:

“You kids still have the nerve to laugh?”

“Ye Chen is at least a celestial seed—what are you?”

“If you don’t hurry up and work hard, you won’t even pass the regular university entrance exam—do you plan to end up in junior college and spend your life laying bricks on a construction site? Or maybe digging spirit stones in the mountains…”

After Old Li’s scolding, Zhang Dahai and the other boys beside him turned pale and flushed in turns.

They were all teenagers, at the age when pride mattered most.

Being scolded by the teacher wasn’t the issue—it was being used as a contrast to Ye Chen that made them feel humiliated, their faces darkening with shame.

Only Lin Mo had softened his smile but kept his expression calm, saying nothing.

After his outburst, Old Li turned to Ye Chen and said:

“Let’s leave it at that for now—go back to class. I’ll speak with Zhu Hongyuan’s parents later.”

Ye Chen frowned at this, about to say something, but Old Li cut him off with “Get back to class,” leaving him no choice but to stay silent.

Just before stepping out of the office, he sneered at Lin Mo and the others:

“How can sparrows understand the ambition of swans!”

Spirit gold… you’ve read too many middle-school fantasy novels… Lin Mo turned away, too lazy to respond to this delusional kid.

After Ye Chen left the office, Old Li turned to them and said:

“You lot—you’re too low for the top, too high for the bottom, and two of you can’t even get into a regular university. Don’t shrink! I’m talking to you, Zhang Dahai!”

Zhang Dahai hung his head, face ashen.

Old Li’s tirade had only just begun:

“Lin Mo at least has decent written exam scores—he’ll get into a decent regular university.”

“What about you? Your last two mock exam scores couldn’t even get you into a junior college—what have you been doing all this time?”

“And you others—stop laughing! Do you train as hard as Ye Chen does?”

“Three years ago, when Ye Chen first transferred in, he was last in the class—bottom of the pile. Now? Top of the class!”

“If you’d just learn from Ye Chen’s discipline, you wouldn’t be struggling to even reach Qi Refining Stage 3 together.”

Zhang Dahai muttered under his breath, trying to interrupt the lecture: “I’d love to train, but nobody gave me the title of ‘Chosen One of Fortune.’”

“Zhang Dahai, how dare you speak up!”

Old Li immediately glared at him, pointing:

“What good is a title? He earned his achievements through hard work.”

“True Qiangzhe never complain about their environment!”

True Qiangzhe certainly don’t complain about their environment—because they’re the ones who ruined it… Hearing this, Lin Mo snorted inwardly.

But if he said that out loud, he’d definitely get ten more copies of the cultivation manual copied.

Lin Mo kept his head down, scribbling furiously, one ear in, one ear out.

Fortunately, Zhang Dahai was the main target—everyone else was secondary; Lin Mo was the least targeted of them all.

By the time he’d nearly finished copying the manual, Old Li was hoarse and finally fell silent.

“If I catch you lot again, you’ll be sent home for the rest of the term—no more school!”

Old Li, face dark, shoved them out of the office.

As Zhang Dahai stepped out of the teacher’s building, he still grumbled:

“What’s so great about Ye Chen? He just got lucky and landed the ‘Chosen One’ title—three years ago he was worse than me!”

“And Old Li too—how are we not working hard? Don’t ten hours of meditation every day count as effort?”

A classmate comforted him: “Calm down, Brother Zhang—Ye Chen’s the Chosen One, he’s going to the Dao Academy. We’re just ordinary people—we can’t touch him!”

“Yeah, what can you do? Honestly, when Ye Chen glared at me just now, I actually felt a little scared.”

“Tell me about it! I heard Zhu Hongyuan from Class Seven got seriously injured by him—I almost slapped myself for not holding my tongue!”

“But seriously, it was funny—especially when he said ‘Thirty years in the east,’ I couldn’t help laughing.”

“Hahaha, me too…”

“…”

After a few casual chats, the tension from the office had eased slightly.

Just as their faces lit up with smiles again, the bell for evening self-study rang.

“Alright, let’s bounce!”

“Wuhu~! Another day survived!”

“Haha, copying manuals isn’t bad—I think I’ve grasped a bit of the technique’s essence. Maybe tomorrow I’ll make a thousand-mile leap and surpass Ye Chen!”

“Awesome! If you get rich…”

“No problem! We’ll get rich together…”

“…”

They waved goodbye—some headed to the dorms, others home.

Lin Mo patted Zhang Dahai on the shoulder: “Kid, see you tomorrow!”

Zhang Dahai retorted with a laugh, his expression back to its usual carefree self, then waved and followed the dorm students back.

But Lin Mo, who knew him well, could tell—their steps as they left were heavy, far from the lightness they pretended.

Lin Mo watched their backs and shook his head.

Zhang Dahai probably knew why Old Li’s scolding had come at that exact moment.

In Head Teacher Old Li’s eyes, whether it was him or Zhang Dahai and the others, their futures were almost certainly beyond the Dao path.

Angering Ye Chen—a destined celestial prodigy on the Dao path—wasn’t a smart move for them.

Though the Nine Continents of Earthly Yuan were now unified, with laws and order established, the chaos of centuries past—where cultivators slaughtered mortals like ants—was gone.

But cultivators were still transcendent beings; ordinary people simply couldn’t afford to offend them.

Right now, they were still students, so Old Li could still intervene.

But ten years from now? Twenty? Maybe Old Li himself would have to bow deeply before Ye Chen, respectfully calling him “Immortal Master.”

What if, then, Ye Chen said, “I can’t calm my Dao heart unless I punish you”—who could stop him?

Thinking of this, Lin Mo’s heart grew heavier.

These scenarios might never happen—but who could guarantee they wouldn’t?

Whether they became reality depended entirely on Ye Chen’s whim.

Only now, from Old Li’s behavior, did Lin Mo realize the cultivation world was far crueler than he’d imagined.

He slapped his cheeks, forcing himself to wake up a little.

Decided!

Tonight, no sleep—stay up all night, knock out one, ascend tomorrow—starting with quitting sleep!

Lin Mo clenched his left fist, his resolve firm in his heart.

An hour later…

“Damn it, almost fell asleep again!”

Lin Mo, jolted awake on the floor mat, slapped his face hard, trying to drive sleep away with pain, and chanted to himself:

“You’re not even eighteen—how the hell are you still sleepy?!”